How Did a Bomber Bigger Than a B-52 Fly at Mach 3?

In 1964, the U.S. Air Force rolled out a bomber that was longer than a B-52, heavier than a B-52 and 3 times as fast. The North American XB-70 Valkyrie was built to cruise at Mach 3, 70,000 feet up, riding its own shock wave. Only 2 were ever built. This is how it worked, why it failed as a bomber, and what it taught NASA about supersonic flight. Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:25 Faster Than the Fighters 01:56 Riding the Shock Wave 03:52 The First Valkyrie 05:14 The Perfect Valkyrie 06:33 A Flying Laboratory 08:08 Legacy Key facts • Length 185 ft, max takeoff weight 542,000 lb, 6 General Electric YJ93 engines with 28,000 lbf each • Compression lift: the intake wedge creates a shock wave that pushes up on the wing; the wingtips fold down by up to 65° • Skin temperature at Mach 3: 450 °F on average, 630 °F on the leading edges • Top speed Mach 3.08 (April 12, 1966); 2,400 miles in 91 minutes, 32 of them at Mach 3 (May 19, 1966) • Both Valkyries together logged just 1 h 48 min above Mach 3 • Last flight: February 4, 1969, to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio #XB70 #Valkyrie #XB70Valkyrie #Mach3 #SupersonicBomber #ColdWar #AviationHistory #AviationDocumentary #NASA #USAF #ExperimentalAircraft #SonicBoom #Avgeek #Engineering #NotTheSame Footage: U.S. Air Force, NASA Armstrong, National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (public domain)